D-Day veteran Frank Agoglia, retired NYPD detective, dies at 101
As a 20-year-old, Frank Agoglia hadn’t even had the chance to fire a shot in World War II before his first taste of combat went sideways. His glider, towed from a U.S. base in England across the English Channel, split in half on impact with the ground in the middle of a farm field in France during the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Normandy.
About half of the 26 men aboard that glider were killed.
Agoglia went on to soldier through fabled battles at Sainte-Mère-Église and La Fière Bridge and later at the Battle of Nijmegen and in Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands.
One of the ever-dwindling number of veterans of World War II and the so-called Greatest Generation, Agoglia died Tuesday at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook. He was 101.
"These guys like my Dad, they saved the world. That's how I view it," said his daughter Susan Pombano, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
"They saved it from an absolute madman."
Born Dec. 2, 1923, in Brooklyn, Agoglia was the sixth of 11 children — and, one of seven brothers — born to Vincenzo and Rose Agoglia, Italian immigrants who ran a billiard parlor.
In a short 2018 documentary by Oscar-winning Brooklyn filmmaker Anthony Giacchino, Agoglia, a graduate of Manual Training High School, now the John Jay Educational Campus in Park Slope, recounted how he and brothers John, Rocco, Jim, Joe and Anthony served in the war.
Brother Ray was too young.
John was with the Eighth Air Force in North Africa and in Italy; Rocco, a G.I. fighting in the island campaigns in the Pacific. Vincent, known as Jim, was on transport ships bringing supplies to troops; Joe, a G.I., served under Gen. George S. Patton in France, while Anthony, a gunner on a B-29, flew 34 bombing missions over Japan.
"That's six Agoglia boys, six of us [who] served in World War II," Frank Agoglia said in that film. "Fortunately, every one of us got back."
And why did Frank and his brothers all volunteer?
As Agoglia said in that film: "When the United States entered the war we were at the age where we could help Mom and Dad — but, Uncle Sam needed us more ... It was something we had to do, right?"
During the making of two short documentaries with Agoglia — "Brothers in Arms" and "The Flying Coffin" — Giacchino accompanied the then-94-year-old veteran to the field where his troop-laden glider crashed in 1944.
Long Islanders Roger Kilfoil and Stephanie Folwell, co-founders of Mission Margraten Plus, a nonprofit that honors World War II veterans, accompanied Agoglia and Giacchino on the Normandy trip — and later funded trips for Agoglia to the Netherlands and the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. In Normandy, Agoglia had a tearful meeting with a Frenchman named Yves de la Rue, who was a 16-year-old farm boy on D-Day — and who helped bury the dead American soldiers.
"You were there with us," an emotional Agoglia told de la Rue, who presented him with a piece of glider tow rope he'd found in 1944.
"I really loved his personality," Giacchino said of Agoglia, whom he met in 2016. "He was so soft-spoken; he was genuine. ... I think he just liked to gather people around — and, be joyful."
In an email, Kilfoil said he had fond memories of Agoglia and his love of simple joys. "Going to Miller's Ale House for lunch with Frank, where he loved to order lobster tails and a brownie with ice cream for dessert," Kilfoil wrote, adding: "And [he] could easily finish both plates."
For his valor in World War II, Agoglia was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and French Medal of Liberation.
Last year, he received the French Legion of Honor.
Postwar, Agoglia came home to Brooklyn, met Lorraine Znaniecki, married her on Oct. 9, 1948, and raised four children in Deer Park.
"He followed her," Pombano said, retelling the story of how her parents met. "They got off the train in Brooklyn and he caught up to her and invited her to go see a baseball game at Ebbets Field. That was their first date. He said, 'I made her walk [to the game] instead of taking the train so I could afford to take her for an egg cream afterwards.' "
A longtime member of the NYPD, Agoglia retired as a detective in 1980, having worked at police headquarters for the chief of operations.
The last of the 11 Agoglia children, Frank Agoglia was predeceased by his wife. In addition to his daughter Susan Pombano, survivors include his daughters Barbara Russo, of Holbrook; Judy Agoglia, of Ronkonkoma; son, Thomas, of Hampton Bays; 11 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
A wake and funeral were held last week in Deer Park.
As a 20-year-old, Frank Agoglia hadn’t even had the chance to fire a shot in World War II before his first taste of combat went sideways. His glider, towed from a U.S. base in England across the English Channel, split in half on impact with the ground in the middle of a farm field in France during the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Normandy.
About half of the 26 men aboard that glider were killed.
Agoglia went on to soldier through fabled battles at Sainte-Mère-Église and La Fière Bridge and later at the Battle of Nijmegen and in Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands.
One of the ever-dwindling number of veterans of World War II and the so-called Greatest Generation, Agoglia died Tuesday at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook. He was 101.
"These guys like my Dad, they saved the world. That's how I view it," said his daughter Susan Pombano, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
"They saved it from an absolute madman."
Born Dec. 2, 1923, in Brooklyn, Agoglia was the sixth of 11 children — and, one of seven brothers — born to Vincenzo and Rose Agoglia, Italian immigrants who ran a billiard parlor.
Six brothers in World War II
In a short 2018 documentary by Oscar-winning Brooklyn filmmaker Anthony Giacchino, Agoglia, a graduate of Manual Training High School, now the John Jay Educational Campus in Park Slope, recounted how he and brothers John, Rocco, Jim, Joe and Anthony served in the war.
Brother Ray was too young.
John was with the Eighth Air Force in North Africa and in Italy; Rocco, a G.I. fighting in the island campaigns in the Pacific. Vincent, known as Jim, was on transport ships bringing supplies to troops; Joe, a G.I., served under Gen. George S. Patton in France, while Anthony, a gunner on a B-29, flew 34 bombing missions over Japan.
"That's six Agoglia boys, six of us [who] served in World War II," Frank Agoglia said in that film. "Fortunately, every one of us got back."
And why did Frank and his brothers all volunteer?
As Agoglia said in that film: "When the United States entered the war we were at the age where we could help Mom and Dad — but, Uncle Sam needed us more ... It was something we had to do, right?"
During the making of two short documentaries with Agoglia — "Brothers in Arms" and "The Flying Coffin" — Giacchino accompanied the then-94-year-old veteran to the field where his troop-laden glider crashed in 1944.
Long Islanders Roger Kilfoil and Stephanie Folwell, co-founders of Mission Margraten Plus, a nonprofit that honors World War II veterans, accompanied Agoglia and Giacchino on the Normandy trip — and later funded trips for Agoglia to the Netherlands and the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. In Normandy, Agoglia had a tearful meeting with a Frenchman named Yves de la Rue, who was a 16-year-old farm boy on D-Day — and who helped bury the dead American soldiers.
"You were there with us," an emotional Agoglia told de la Rue, who presented him with a piece of glider tow rope he'd found in 1944.
"I really loved his personality," Giacchino said of Agoglia, whom he met in 2016. "He was so soft-spoken; he was genuine. ... I think he just liked to gather people around — and, be joyful."
In an email, Kilfoil said he had fond memories of Agoglia and his love of simple joys. "Going to Miller's Ale House for lunch with Frank, where he loved to order lobster tails and a brownie with ice cream for dessert," Kilfoil wrote, adding: "And [he] could easily finish both plates."
Surrounded by family and Deputy Consul General of France Myriam Gil, right, Frank Agoglia was presented with the French Legion of Honor medal at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook last year. Credit: Barry Sloan
Bronze Star, Purple Heart
For his valor in World War II, Agoglia was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and French Medal of Liberation.
Last year, he received the French Legion of Honor.
Postwar, Agoglia came home to Brooklyn, met Lorraine Znaniecki, married her on Oct. 9, 1948, and raised four children in Deer Park.
"He followed her," Pombano said, retelling the story of how her parents met. "They got off the train in Brooklyn and he caught up to her and invited her to go see a baseball game at Ebbets Field. That was their first date. He said, 'I made her walk [to the game] instead of taking the train so I could afford to take her for an egg cream afterwards.' "
A longtime member of the NYPD, Agoglia retired as a detective in 1980, having worked at police headquarters for the chief of operations.
The last of the 11 Agoglia children, Frank Agoglia was predeceased by his wife. In addition to his daughter Susan Pombano, survivors include his daughters Barbara Russo, of Holbrook; Judy Agoglia, of Ronkonkoma; son, Thomas, of Hampton Bays; 11 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
A wake and funeral were held last week in Deer Park.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
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